Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development
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Arts Boost Schooling, New Report Concludes
Karen MacPherson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
May 18, 2000

Far from being "frills," arts education programs help make it easier for many students to master academic subjects such as reading and math, according to a new report.

The report titled Critical Links, which was released Thursday by the Arts Education Partnership, reviews 62 different studies of how arts programs motivate students -- especially those at risk of failing -- to learn academic subjects and develop other important skills, such as concentration, creativity, self-control and empathy.

"The accumulated research of skilled scholars ... is unambiguous: The arts contribute in many ways to academic achievement, student engagement, motivation and social skills," said James Catterall, a University of California at Los Angeles education professor who worked on the report. "Notions that the arts are frivolous add-ons to a serious curriculum couldn't be further from the truth. While education in the arts is no magic bullet for what ails many schools, the arts warrant a place in the curriculum because of their intimate ties to most everything we want for our children and schools."

The report said studies show that students taught to play the music keyboard develop thinking skills needed for math, that young children who dramatize stories improve their reading comprehension abilities and that dance classes boost youngsters' creative thinking, especially in writing poetry.

In addition, studies included in Critical Links suggest that arts education is particularly effective in developing academic and social skills for economically disadvantaged children, young children and children who need remedial instruction.

The partnership, a national coalition of more than 140 arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations, received funding for the report from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts. Partnership officials framed the report as a counterweight to the growing pressure on schools to focus strictly on academics.

Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., said arts education isn't a priority in most school districts despite increasing evidence of its importance. She is promoting arts funding in Congress.

Wilson pointed to her own state. Although the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area is the nation's second-largest art market, students in Albuquerque schools receive only a few weeks of art instruction each year.

G. Thomas Houlihan, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, noted that the new federal education law named the arts as one of the core subjects that all schools should teach. "The studies in Critical Links show the wisdom of that decision and the benefit of arts learning for every child," Houlihan said.

Some arts educators have questioned efforts to tout the arts as a tool for boosting academic performance, instead of valuing the arts for themselves. Catterall discounted this concern.

"An expansion of arts programs in the schools could lead to a generation with greater skills and interest in the arts than today's young adults, who came through rather arts-starved school systems," he said.